Origins

Origins XI

Origins XI

The sky had turned the gray color that tells of the coming of dawn when I landed. I removed my arm from around Nico, and he fell to the sand, kissing the ground. He was still afraid of heights anyways. I smirked.

"I thought I was your boyfriend, not the sand," I said, sarcasm very evident. Nico turned red.

"You are my boyfriend. But I was also just in the air for the past few hours. Jerk," Nico added.

"Wimp," I muttered back. We glared at each other, and burst out laughing. I immediately heard a sound like bells. That meant Tinkerbell knew that we were back.

"Oh thank God you're okay! We were worried sick! How dare you leave and not tell me!" Tinkerbell chimed angrily.

"Next time a mermaid decides to try and drown us, you'll be the first to know. Mom," I said the last part quietly so Nico wouldn't hear. I know he still missed his mother, and I didn't want to set him off.

"PETER! NICO!" I heard a voice scream. Then I saw 2 manes of red hair streak towards us.

"How's it going, Tanner? What up, Damien?" Nico said, hugging them in turn, although he mixed up the order like always.

"We were wondering when you would get back!" Tanner said.

"What happened to you two?" Damien asked.

"We'll tell you and everyone else once we get back. Or, we'll tell you if Nico actually figures out how to talk with a mouthful of sand," I said. Nico once again reddened.

"I can so talk!" he said, his Irish accent making him sound not at all threatening.

"Sure you can," I said, putting my arm around his shoulders. He returned the gesture, and we followed Tanner and Damien back to where everyone else was. Nico and I stopped at the edge of the woods where no one else could see us. Sawyer was sitting in the sand across from Jason. It looked like they were playing a game of some sort. Hook was watching them play and giving them pointers and went back to scowling. Although for Hook, his normal face is scowling anyways.

"Neeks, let's swim around and crawl out onto the beach," I said, grinning.

"Why?" Nico asked.

"Because why not!" Nico shrugged, and we sprinted to the beach and dove in. We swam around the island and went over to where the twins, Sawyer, Jason, and Hook were and crawled out onto the beach with mud smeared on our faces (that was Nico's idea). The twins rolled their eyes. So did Hook's and Jason's. But Sawyer's eyes widened as he ran over to us.

"What happened to you two? You look terrible!" Sawyer said, more concerned than was really needed.

"It was terrible! We were taken by the mermaids, then the pirates got us and put us to work!" I said, trying to sound tired (I really wasn't).

"And the pirates hit us, which gave us this bruise!" Nico said, turning around to show a sunburn on his bare back.

"And you're all okay? How?" Sawyer asked.

"Sawyer, they're messing with you. They landed a half-hour ago," Tanner said.

"Aw, c'mon! Why did you have to ruin it?" I asked.

"Because you would've told a story crazier and crazier until Sawyer couldn't sleep from terror. Just like when we were at sea, and like when we were in third grade, and-"

"Fine, I get it!" I said, cutting off Damien.

"Even so, I'm just glad you're okay!" Sawyer said.

"Didn't I warn you about the mermaids, boy," Hook growled.

"'Course you did, Jimmy," I said.

"We just didn't listen," Nico said. I heard sharp intakes of breath from the other boys. Hook's scowl turned into a grin for an instant before he grabbed Nico and I by our arms, walked back onto the ship, and threw us both overboard. Tanner and Damien ran over to make sure we were okay, then paused mouths gaping open. I looked down and realized why. They could see our tails.